Women may soon be able to control their reproductive health as easily as they post selfies to social media.

US company MicroCHIPS has for the past two years been working on a long-lasting contraceptive to be implanted beneath the skin that can be switched on and off via WiFi.

The device will deliver a daily dose of levonorgestrel (the same hormone used in ‘the morning after pill’) for up to 16 years when turned on. 

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According to a column published this month in Australasian Science, the idea for the device grew out of a conversation in 2012 between Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and Robert Langer, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Earlier this year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave the company $5.18 million to develop a prototype, with a final version expected on shelves by 2018 if trials are successful.

Better contraceptives needed

La Trobe University Professor Angela Taft, a female health expert, told The New Daily the device has “fabulous potential” to reduce unwanted pregnancies and prevent abortions, but said women in developing countries will need “clever training” to use the presumably complicated device effectively.

Accurate abortion statistics are difficult to obtain, but each of the researchers interviewed by The New Daily agreed that approximately one in five Australian pregnancies end in abortion, if not more. This statistic, described as “shocking” by one academic, highlights the need for more effective birth control and better education of women and the doctors who prescribe them.

“I love Bill and Melinda Gates. I think what they are doing is fantastic, and the fact they have sponsored the development of something like this is really, really praiseworthy,” Professor Taft said.

“But we’re a long way from this being regularly available at a cost that women in low- and middle-income countries can afford because this sounds expensive to me.”

In 2012, Melinda Gates said she intended to campaign for global access to contraception for the next 10 years.

“Birth control has almost completely and totally disappeared from the global health agenda, and the victims of this paralysis are the people of sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia,” Ms Gates said at a TED conference.

Innovation sorely lacking

Filipina women line up to receive contraceptives at a health clinic in Manila. Photo: Getty

Monash University emergency contraceptive researcher Dr Safeera Hussainy, a pharmacist, told The New Daily the device “opens up a new world of possibilities”.

The device might overcome some of the difficulties of the oral contraceptive pill, which is still the most popular option for women.

“Taking a tablet every day can actually be quite difficult because you can forget to take it and you have to take it at a certain time to work at 97 per cent or 99 per cent effectiveness,” Dr Hussainy said, but only if doctors change their prescription habits.

Innovation has been slow in the area of female contraception, making this project “definitely welcome,” she said.

The latest development is a new ‘morning after pill’ called Ulipristal, expected to arrive in Australia next year, which can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex and may be more effective in women with higher body weight (75 kilograms or more).

Many unanswered questions

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to provide easier access to contraception in developing nations in Africa and Asia. Photo: Getty

Family Planning NSW clinical research director Dr Edith Weisberg told The New Daily the device sounds “intriguing” and “very novel”, but had many concerns.

For example:

• Can it be turned off permanently?
• Will it release the same amount of hormones for the entire 16 years?
• Will it switch itself on or off accidentally?
• Will it cost upwards of $500 or $1000 upfront?
• If the remote controller, such as a smart phone app, can be hacked?
• 20 by 20 by 7mm is very large. Will it be obvious to the naked eye?

The New Daily attempted to put many of these questions to MicroCHIPS, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.

“It would be disastrous if a male partner could control it against the wishes of the woman,” Dr Weisberg said.

These concerns may not be the biggest obstacle for MicroCHIPS. Long-acting contraceptives are used by only seven per cent of Australian women or fewer, Dr Weisberg said.

“A lot of older women are unwilling to use hormonal contraceptives, which they feel disrupt their own hormonal milieu,” she said.